Tom & Shelly's build

[tony.latham]

I thought underlayment was used under linoleum, vinyl, etc, in other words inside only. Being waterproof would not be a concern, only smoothness and some structural integrity ( no major voids). This would be different from what you would use on a roof or exterior application.

I can throw a chunk of the underlayment I get (at about $2 less than 1/4" AC) and a month later there is no delamination.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Here's the back side of the stuff I get locally:



Tony

Thanks Tony! I just typed that into my search engine and here is what came up:

https://integrawood.com/integraply/

I'll investigate and see if we can find a distributor near Albuquerque.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

I thought underlayment was used under linoleum, vinyl, etc, in other words inside only. Being waterproof would not be a concern, only smoothness and some structural integrity ( no major voids). This would be different from what you would use on a roof or exterior application.

Someone missed caulking under a single window in the first home I owned in Kansas. First thunderstorm (Kansas style) and the entire concrete pad was soaked. It was a brand new townhouse and the builder (under warranty) had to replace the entire carpet and pads for both sides. Water finds a way.

With a floor with cheap underlayment, swelling from water from any source, at any time during the lifetime of that underlayment, would devalue the home or require expensive replacement. Speaking as someone who's owned several houses now, and rented a few, it seems like a bad investment to me.

Of course, in a teardrop, it would be a disaster!

I want to investigate this IntregaPly. My wife has a friend in the flooring installation business, and we'll see if she's heard of them...

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

I owned a queen size futon from my bachelor days. It was the "guest bed" and so various friends and family members used it when in town. I never have, and I'd guess, though I had no complaints, it was ideal to discourage any ideas of long term occupancy.

When Shelly and I combined households about 4 years ago, we really didn't have room for it, and today we decided to donate it to goodwill. Then we wondered whether we should sell it instead. Then I asked whether we'd considered the possibility of using the mattress in our tear. Evidently we hadn't.

It is the wrong size, but Shelly seems to think that can be remedied easily enough. I'm not sure of the details, but it involves scissors, an electric steak knife (to cut the foam), and a hand stitch (to shorten the inner cover).



Without the frame, it may be comfortable. We will try it out on our first weekend trips and can always buy something better if necessary. In the mean time, the price is right!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

I'll investigate and see if we can find a distributor near Albuquerque.

Tom

No luck so far finding an IntegraPly distributor in Albuquerque. Rugby and Hunter (Albuquerque) don't carry it, and when I asked at the Rax in Edgewood in June, they didn't have any underlayment. Guess maybe we'll have to use 1/4" AC plywood for our exterior walls and fill splits with epoxy. We plan to fiberglass, then paint anyway, so it should be good enough.

Tom

[jondbar628]

Another thumbs-up for Integraply. Good stuff - hope you can find it locally in NM. For the midwesterners, I found it at Menards. I'm not sure if they ALWAYS have it, but they frequently do. I used it for flooring, shelving, and many hardpoints in my foamie (all properly "mixed", of course).................jd

[KTM_Guy]

Can you not find Baltic Birch locally?

Todd

[Tom&Shelly]

Can you not find Baltic Birch locally?

Todd

I found 1/8" 5' x 5' Baltic birch. Haven't looked for 1/4". It would be another option, I suppose. To tell the truth, I hadn't thought of using BB for the outer skin, though we plan on using it for the inner skin.

The place that carries the BB doesn't carry IntegraPly.

Tom

[KTM_Guy]

Can you not find Baltic Birch locally?

Todd

I found 1/8" 5' x 5' Baltic birch. Haven't looked for 1/4". It would be another option, I suppose. To tell the truth, I hadn't thought of using BB for the outer skin, though we plan on using it for the inner skin.

The place that carries the BB doesn't carry IntegraPly.

Tom

I would think if they have 1/8" they would have 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4". Well the metic equivalent. When I lived in IL I would buy underlayment from Menard's like was said a few messages up, it was nice stuff but that was just because it was closer then having to drive to Chicago to get BB. 1/2" BB is also ideal to build your drawer boxes out of. 1/2" sides and 1/4 bottom.

Todd

[Tom&Shelly]

We epoxied the bottom of our floor this weekend



and we're not especially pleased with the outcome. Is it supposed to be mottled like this?



We put on the first coat Saturday afternoon with a white foam roller, then tipped off with a black foam brush. Sunday morning we added a second coat using the same technique, although we didn't tip off as much, as it didn't seem to improve anything. We're not sure the mottling is due to bubbles (I'm thinking it's not). Perhaps we should use a black foam brush instead, or perhaps something else in my technique is seriously wrong?

We did not sand the plywood prior to applying the first coat. (It's the bottom of the floor and we didn't want the extra sawdust in the air.) I'm confident it will do it's job protecting the floor from water, small stones, etc. and down there, we're not worried about appearance per se, but this is practice for the top of our floor and later for the undercoat before applying fiberglass, and I'd hate for the latter (especially) to be screwed up. I also think I can sand the epoxy smooth after it cures, but that seems like a lot of work! Perhaps that is the way it is though, especially after fiberglassing and adding filler coats?

Also, for the second coat, we tried adding grey pigment per Raka's instructions (2 teaspoons maximum per 6 oz batch of epoxy) and the cup turned a nice opaque grey



but when applying it, the stuff is so transparent we barely notice the grey. This is not what I was led to believe would happen reading information on the internet!

So we seem to have some serious problems, but I'm not sure what we're doing wrong

Tom

[friz]

Everything I have seen on producing flawless flat epoxy surfaces involves sanding between coats.

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[tony.latham]

I’ll check the air bubble ballot box. I always use a squeegee with epoxy.

But if this is the underside of your floor, just don’t show it when your giving teardrop tours to the curious tenters you camp next to.

T


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[KTM_Guy]

Looks about right? Adding a few more coats will smooth is out without sanding. Or you can sand in-between coats to get it to smooth out quicker. Like Tony said I like to use a squeegee. I used some cheap plastic ones I found at Home Depot It is an edger for painting. Let the epoxy cure and it just peeled off.

Some of the problem may be with the fir plywood. The summer growth is very soft compared to winter growth which is hard. And the softer wood will soak up the coating more than the harder wood. Same thing when sanding fir. It's hard to get a smooth flat finish.

I use West System and would recoat when the first coat is about as sticky as masking tape.

Todd

[Tom&Shelly]

Everything I have seen on producing flawless flat epoxy surfaces involves sanding between coats.

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Thank you Friz. We may resort to that. It would be nice to get the chemical bond though. My understanding is we should wait a few days after coating to sand.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

I’ll check the air bubble ballot box. I always use a squeegee with epoxy.

But if this is the underside of your floor, just don’t show it when your giving teardrop tours to the curious tenters you camp next to.

T


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Thanks again Tony. Yes, that's why we started with the bottom of the floor. We are definitely on a learning curve here. Looking at it again, I'm not sure it's that different from some you-tubes we've seen from professionals. We may try sanding and applying another coat as a learning experience to see if we can make it smoother.

Not sure if it's air bubbles or not. It doesn't look discolored, although the very slight grey tint makes it confusing. Still not sure what went wrong there. Raka didn't (yet) answer my email about the adding the pigment.

Anyway, we will try practicing with some more scraps, and will use squeegees to see if we do a better job with them.

Definitely want the top of our floor to look better. We plan to have an air conditioner in the front, so we wanted to epoxy both that compartment and the galley. We figured we may as well epoxy in the sleeping compartment. Good thought on taping off the floor under the bulkheads. That will also give us smaller sections to think about at any one time too.

Tom